


Merritt McKinney is an Awful Matchmaker

by belana



Series: The Main Secret of Magic [1]
Category: Now You See Me (2013)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-12-18 00:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/873607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belana/pseuds/belana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>see title</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merritt McKinney is an Awful Matchmaker

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for my beta Darkling who made the text readable.

"The main secret of magic is that any asshole can learn it."

"I thought it was a little different."

"Ha!"

Merritt leaned to Jack and squinted.

"Then you don't know anything about magic, pal. It looks like he doesn't either," he gestured toward Atlas tinkering with the cardboard miniature of the stage. "So I want you to go and talk to him like he's an ordinary mortal."

"What?"

"In a couple of months all of this," Merritt waved his hand, "will hit the fan, and if you, Jack, don't grow up you'll be an Arabica bean in a coffee-mill. You'll turn into dust. _Finita_ , it will be the end of it. We’re a team here, and you’re an equal partner just like Atlas. I could have let it pass if you, Jackie-o, were catching _my_ every word, but you're staring at Atlas like he's a reincarnation of Houdini. That won't do."

"I don't understand."

Merritt shook his head. Jack understood everything fine.

It was just that Merritt McKinney's art of catching one red-handed drove Wilder into a corner.

Merritt 's been bored out if his mind for the last couple of days. The kids were tinkering with mechanisms and stuff while he watched. Merrittno longer cared for all these mirrors, smoke, cards up the sleeve and rabbits turning up in places not suitable for them.

In the last few years he has come to rely only on his fingers, attention and trained mind. He trained it all around the clock. He didn't solve puzzles and riddles, though, it was just plain useless.

No, Mr. McKinney watched people, watched their every gesture, every movement, every glance. He assembled them anew from these tiniest details, and if the copy differed from the original, the discrepancy was usually less than two per cent.

It was a great result. The boys and the girl needed at least ten years to become his equal, and that if they decided to put aside all their toys and get to real business.

When he got bored of watching people in the street through the dirty window McKinney always turned his attention to his partners.

Maybe that was a bad idea.

"Well, you behave like his crazy fan. That won't do."

To tell the truth Jack treated Atlas not as an idol. In fact, no fan looks at their idols with such adoration. But Jack wasn’t going to admit that to Merritt who made a living out of messing with other people's emotions.

Merritt respected such reserve. Merritt wanted to help him. As he had just said to Jack and to himself a couple of days earlier they were a team. And one should care for one’s team.

"Talk to him. Start socializing. Start talking normally and not as if you're going to pull up you t-shirt and beg him to sign your chest any minute."

"What does magic have to do with any of it?"

"If any asshole — even one like Atlas — can learn to do it, then you are equal. You'll draw level with him pretty soon, Jack. You'll be even better than him. All this setting him on a pedestal will lead to disaster. You do remember why we're here, don't you?"

Now the kid stared at him as if Merritt was an idiot. Why "as if"? McKinney was an idiot, he could have earned a hundred bucks for this. Not much, but still something.

"And I could be better than you?"

"No." The bugger. He was aiming too high. "You'll never be better than me. What I do is not pure magic. It's part art and part talent."

Jack smirked.

"We'll see," he said to Merritt and stood up.

Merritt followed him with his eyes and watched him and Atlas assemble the miniature stage together. It occurred to him that right now he wasn't a matchmaker as usual, but he created a monster that could bring him down.

 _Well, I have at least ten years_ , he thought and smirked. _That is if Atlas fails to keep Jack occupied with something more exciting._


End file.
